In many forests around the world, logging still contributes to habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous peoples, and violence against people who work in the forest and the wildlife that dwells there. Many consumers of wood and paper, and many forest products companies believe that the link between logging and these negative impacts can be broken, and that forests can be managed and protected at the same time.
Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management uses very broad social, economic and environmental goals. A range of forestry institutions now practice various forms of sustainable forest management and a broad range of methods and tools are available that have been tested over time.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) describes sustainable forest management as:
"The stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems."
The need for balance between people’s increasing demands for forest products and benefits, and the preservation of forest health and diversity and a growing environmental awareness and consumer demand for more socially responsible businesses, helped third-party forest certification emerge in the 1990s as a credible tool for communicating the environmental and social performance of forest operations.
Forest certification is carried out by an independent organization and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operations that comply with standards. This certification verifies that forests are well-managed—as defined by a particular standard—and ensures that certain wood and paper products come from responsibly managed forests.
This rise of certification led to the emergence of several different systems throughout the world. As a result, there is no single accepted forest management standard worldwide, and each system takes a somewhat different approach in defining standards for sustainable forest management. Third-party forest certification is important to make sure that forests are well-managed and legally harvested.
There are more than 50 certification standards worldwide.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world's forests. It was founded in 1993 in response to public concern about deforestation and demand for a trustworthy wood-labelling scheme. There are national working groups in 28 countries. Its purpose is to improve forest management worldwide and has become the leading model for environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest stewardship.
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification. This offers customers and consumers the option to choose products from environmentally and socially responsible and economically viable forestry. Its 35 worldwide independent national forest certification systems represent more than 210 million ha of certified forests, making it the largest forest certification system in the world, covering about two-thirds of the globally certified forest area.
Mutual recognition of FSC and PEFC certified material in the chain of custody has not yet happened. However, FSC and PEFC use the same forest management standard in countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway.
Examples of sustainable forest management logos:
